Musings on food and life from Beth Bader, the co-author of The Cleaner Plate Club. Ingredients: original recipes, food policy insights, parenting fun, and a dash of humor.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Channeling Mario

Last night I had a crazy dream. I had been selected to be Mario Batali's sous chef. A thinner, younger Mario, by the way. Throughout the whole dream, we were preparing to go places to cook, but we never got anywhere and never cooked a thing. I don't know what this means.

I tried to stay asleep, to garner some subconscious bit of wisdom from Molto Mario. Alas, my dream was ended.

"Wake up, Mommy!"

So, I am looking to all of you for a path to wisdom. What kind of cooking tip do you most need? What ingredient do you most want a recipe for? Just ask, and I will try and find an answer. Maybe we can get by without Mario.

3 comments:

You already basically know what I need...some good vegetable recipes. Some with the more common vegetables, to spice up the variety for me when I'm cooking for people who won't eat 'strange' vegetables, and some really good tasting less common vegetables to try to get those same people to try them. If at all possible, using more common ingredients would also be helpful. I love goat cheese, for example, which I think you used in a recent recipe, but unfortunately I don't think I can get any in my tiny town (we're in casserole land :D).

I'm with Mike and Misty...I'd love to see some kid-friendly recipes using vegetables that use common ingredients and only a few of them.

I'd also love to see more recipes like your herbed chicken. We've made that a few times now and the chili following. I never thought of cooking two at once (duh!) and it works out well. If you have more simple dishes that can work for more than one meal during the week, I'd love to see those!

“Besides Nigella Lawson’s “How to Be a Domestic Goddess,” I can’t think of another cookbook that causes me to laugh out loud. From page one, I felt like I was sitting at my table with old friends. This isn’t just a cookbook: it’s an educational arsenal to wield your way with grace and dexterity through the carnival that is the modern American food system…Without increasing my weekly budget, I increased our vegetable consumption at our evening meals by two vegetable dishes a night. It was no longer a battle of eat your veggies,’ but a question of ‘which vegetable would you like to eat tonight?’”

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About Me

The Cleaner Plate Club offers simple solutions, recipes, meal suggestions, and tips to help parents get kids to eat good food and -- guess what? -- enjoy it. With humor and compassion, the authors show readers how to prepare real foods, plan ahead and estimate prep time, and get used to cooking food that doesn't come with printed directions. Their fresh advice will help parents eliminate food waste, plan for leftovers, present foods that are appealing to kids, and quit fighting with their children about food. The Cleaner Plate Club offers kid-tested recipes for every meal, basic vegetable preparations for farmers' market finds, and more healthful recipes for sweets and snacks. Readers will also find shopping strategies, the reasons kids like the foods they do, and vegetable profiles (including nutrition information and tips on selection, storage, and preparation). Expert advice and innovative ideas about feeding kids make this book a must-have for any parent. Fresh, funny, and nonjudgmental, The Cleaner Plate Club is a recipe for healthier kids and happier parents.